&quot;Does this transaction render both parties to it better off, in terms of their subjective assessment of their own welfare, relative to how they would have perceived their welfare had they not encountered each other?”

Law + Economics approach

India: committing or threatening to commit any act forbidden by the penal code, or the unlawful detaining of or threatening to detain any property to the prejudice of any person with the intention of causing any person to enter into an agreement.

Lochner v. New York (1905): &quot;right to free contract&quot; was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. [case involved a New York law that limited the number of hours a baker could work each week]

Led to ‘the Lochner era’ lasting for almost 30 years

West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937): Supreme Court took a much broader view of the government's power to regulate economic activities [upheld constitutionality of minimum wage legislation enacted by the state of Washington]

Constraints are imposed by statute, collective agreement, works agreement and case law as concerns freedom of contractual content.

A provision in an individual contract of employment diverging from the regulation laid down in a collective agreement or works agreement is valid only if the employee thereby acquires more or improved rights.